Anyone who has ever witnessed the build-up to New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands is well aware of the country’s passion for fireworks. While any firework enthusiast, if confronted with questions about safety, would say they are always careful and aware of the risks, sometimes things don’t go quite as planned.
It is what happened to a 25-year-old supporter of the football club Titan from the Drenthe village of Nieuw-Weerdinge, reports RTV Drenthe. On Sunday April 10th, the young man was seriously injured when fireworks exploded while he was still holding them in his hand.
He ended up losing parts of his fingers even though he was speedily brought to the UMCG in Groningen, where he received surgery in the evening. The man’s brother suffered minor injuries and was sent to the general practitioner with hearing complaints.
According to RTV Drenthe, the fireworks should have been the signal for the players’ entrance at the amateur football match between Titans and Schoonebeek, but things quickly got out of hand (no pun intended). The match started 20 minutes late because of the incident.
